As a self-employed attorney, ordinarily I would charge my travel time to a client, usually at my full billable rate, but sometimes at a reduced rate. I spent several months last year working at a temporary work location as an independent contractor responsible for reviewing my clients' contracts, and negotiating and drafting agreements. The temporary work location in central North Carolina was situated 61 miles from my tax home in southern Virginia, so I spent about 2.5 hours per day traveling to the worksite for which I was not separately compensated, and for which I could not bill to the client (per our consulting agreement, I was responsible for my own travel costs).
Can I claim the 2.5 hours per day of non-productive, otherwise billable, but unreimbursed (by the client) travel time as an ordinary and necessary business expense to offset my gross profits on Schedule C?
The common practice of law firms billing travel time, and the stock-in-trade of an attorney being his/her "time" as measured by billable hours, seems to suggest I can list my expended travel time (necessary in order to reach my distant worksite, and unproductive because i could not work for this or for other clients while driving) as an ordinary and necessary business expense for purposes of trimming my taxable net profit.
Chris
Hello Chris,
Good argument, but no. you cannot claim your time, no matter how valuable, as a business deduction.
The same reasoning applies to contributions of your time and or services to a charitable organization. For instance, were you to donate your services to a non-profit you would get no tax deduction. But, were you to bill me for services and then give to the charity as a donation whatever I paid you, then you'd be able to deduct it. Take a look at No deduction for donated work or services on my website for a little more info.
Best,
June
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